My happy life in a courtyard house with triplets.

Chapter 217: An older woman sells her house

Looking at him, the older woman smiled and got to the point: "Zhang Lei, I've thought about your suggestion. I've contacted my nephew who lives far away; he's preparing to leave Beijing."

Zhang Lei was overjoyed, but on the surface, he pretended to be very concerned and asked, "Auntie, are you really leaving? Where are you going?"

"I'm going to the south," the woman replied with a smile. "My nephew has already made arrangements for me. I'll help them take care of their children there, and they'll take care of me in my old age. Besides, both of them have stable jobs, so we won't be short of money."

Zhang Lei nodded and smiled in agreement, "That's great. You'll definitely be comfortable living with your nephew."

The middle-aged woman nodded gently and said, "Besides, the money and savings that Yi Zhonghai and I saved up are enough for me to live on."

Zhang Lei knew why she had come, so he asked directly, "Auntie, you've come to see me this time to talk about what will happen after you leave, right?"

The older woman nodded: "Yes, I was thinking that after I leave, I won't keep this house anymore, so I might as well sell it to you. I have the deed and everything, so we can go directly to transfer the ownership."

Zhang Lei immediately agreed: "Okay. Ma'am, this is a side room of your house. I'll give you 500 yuan per room, 1000 yuan for both rooms. How about that?"

The middle-aged woman considered the price to herself; it was neither too high nor too low, just right. Besides, she was about to leave anyway, so there was no need to haggle over the money. She nodded and agreed, "Okay."

Zhang Lei then said, "Auntie, could you lend me your pen and paper? You can write me an IOU for 3000 yuan, and I'll give you this house as collateral."

The woman thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. She knew that real estate sales were currently prohibited, but mortgages or gifts were permissible. She didn't intend to keep the house anyway, so she didn't care how much was written on the IOU.

Soon, the two signed the papers, wrote all the relevant documents, and agreed that the money would be exchanged for the property transfer the next day.

The next morning, before anyone in the courtyard had noticed, Zhang Lei and an older woman quietly went to the housing management office. The office verified their loan agreement and other relevant documents, confirming that both parties were acting voluntarily and without coercion, and immediately processed the transfer of ownership for them.

Zhang Lei was overjoyed to see the deeds to Yi Zhonghai's two rooms registered in his own name. The two rooms were quite large, about fifty or sixty square meters, and at a price of 100,000 yuan per square meter in later times, they would be worth at least five or six million yuan.

Seeing Zhang Lei staring blankly at the property deed, the older woman laughed and said, "Don't look at it anymore, it's already yours, it won't run away." Zhang Lei smiled awkwardly, took out a thousand yuan from his pocket and handed it over: "Auntie, here's a thousand yuan, you can count it."

The older woman took the money and stuffed it into her pocket, waving her hand and saying, "Alright, no need to count it. I trust your character." Seeing her so straightforward, Zhang Lei reminded her, "Since you're so decisive, I'll also give you a heads-up: don't let anyone in the courtyard know you're leaving, or you'll definitely get into trouble."

The older woman thought for a moment and nodded in agreement: "Thank you for reminding me, I know all that. There's not much to pack at home, besides my clothes and money, I don't need to bring anything else, my nephew has arranged everything for me over there." Zhang Lei pondered for a moment, then took out another hundred yuan: "The furniture in the yard, I'll pay for it."

The old woman waved her hand again, refusing, "Never mind, you can have it. In the whole courtyard, your family is the only good person. Be careful in the future." Zhang Lei nodded, able to tell that the old woman meant what she said. Although he felt some sympathy for the old woman, he also knew that sincerity and sympathy were the least valuable things in the world.

Soon, the two returned to the courtyard house, deliberately walking one after the other to avoid being seen. Zhang Lei didn't mention buying Yi Zhonghai's house to his three sisters. He planned to announce it after the older woman left, afraid that saying it beforehand would cause trouble, and even more afraid of bothering the older woman.

However, Zhang Lei's concerns were clearly unnecessary. The woman returned home and immediately began packing her clothes, obviously having already withdrawn the money from her savings account and prepared to leave. Not long after, the woman returned with the key to the back annex and gave it to Zhang Lei. Zhang Lei said softly, "Have a safe journey."

The old woman didn't say anything, but silently turned her head and left the courtyard house where she had lived for decades.

The old woman left without anyone in the courtyard noticing. The three Ye sisters, seeing the extra keys in Zhang Lei's hand, asked with puzzled expressions, "Honey, what's this?"

Zhang Lei led the three people into the house, took out the property deed and the keys that the old lady had just brought, and said, "The old lady was all alone in the courtyard and planned to leave. Before she left, she sold the house to me."

Upon hearing this, the three sisters were all shocked. Ye Shuqin quickly asked, "Honey, is what you're saying true?" Zhang Lei nodded, "You'll know if you look at the name on the property deed." The three sisters leaned over to look, and sure enough, Zhang Lei's name was on the property deed.

Ye Shuhua immediately beamed with joy: "Honey, did you plan this all along? This way, when Mom, Dad, Grandpa, and Grandma come over, we'll have a place to stay!" Zhang Lei chuckled and pinched her cheek: "You're so clever."

Ye Shuhua hugged Zhang Lei happily, jumping up and down, "Honey, you're amazing!" Ye Shuqin and Ye Shuqi looked at Zhang Lei with joy as well. They had been worried about what to do if their family came and there weren't enough rooms, but Zhang Lei had solved the problem so easily, and they admired their husbands even more.

Zhang Lei smiled and reassured her, "Alright, alright, the old lady is gone. We'll clean and renovate those two rooms another day so that Grandpa, Grandma, and Mom and Dad can stay comfortably when they come over." The three sisters nodded in unison. Now, their family has the most houses in the entire courtyard.

After playing and laughing with the three sisters for a while, Zhang Lei carefully put the house deed and keys into his personal space. Looking at the valuables in the space, he couldn't hide the smile on his face. At current prices, these things were enough for him to live comfortably for ten lifetimes.

But when he thought about the future and his ambition to make his family a large clan, he shook his head slightly and muttered to himself: I really am destined to be a busy man—work hard, young man!